kirby parts vent


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Thread Number: 39639 / Tag: 50s/60s/70s Vacuum Cleaners
kirby parts vent

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Post# 420542 2/24/2020 at 16:16 (1,522 days old) by vacuser (milford,ohio)
Checkrate/Likes 2 do some of the people selling on ebay think that kirby people are made of money ? just some outrageous prices i'm seeing for attachments & bags.kirby greed i call it ! call me old school but i believe in giving people good daels they can afford.i have a lot of accessories & would not even ask some of their prices.there's my VENT ! View Full Size

Post# 420547 , Reply# 1 2/24/2020 at 16:54 (1,522 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina)
Checkrate/Likes I agree and I vote with my dollars by not buying overpriced parts from greedy sellers. The odd thing is I'll buy things online and think I've gotten a good deal but I would never pay that much for the same thing in person. I think it's just too easy to click a mouse.

Post# 420551 , Reply# 2 2/24/2020 at 18:00 (1,522 days old) by huskyvacs (Gnaw Bone, Indiana)
Checkrate/Likes 1 Kirby is one of the most popularized vacuum brands that "normies" know of - and they know they cost over $1,000 retail - so they figure they find an old one, it's gotta be super old and valuable so they list it for $$$. A lot of Kirbys from California people charge $300-$400 for a run down wreck of a Classic model or 500 series.

Post# 420552 , Reply# 3 2/24/2020 at 18:59 (1,522 days old) by texaskirbyguy (Plano, TX)
Checkrate/Likes I agree on the high prices of small parts and single pieces. $30 for a wand? $12 for a dirty round brush? $30 for a used power switch? I think much of the mentality is that the sellers only see half the price, as ebay, shipping, and payment fees eat up the other half (or more). Kirby parts are not the only stuff to be done this way - I see it in most other things too. I am selling entire motor units for 30-40 shipped and prefer that so owners will have almost all parts available when needed. I would feel bad tearing them down to the last part and overcharging for each one. So if you need parts, check on this forum first. There are many of us who would love to share some good deals as well as receive them.

Post# 420574 , Reply# 4 2/25/2020 at 09:21 (1,521 days old) by dandagreer (Nashville, TN)
Checkrate/Likes *Totally agree* It's very frustrating! But, as mentioned above, you have regular people who find an "antique" and assume it's worth hundreds of dollars in super rough shape. And, you have collectors who tend to over-value things from their collection because they're so fond of them. I love my collection, but I also know that, even fully restored to looking nearly original, my Kirbys are really not worth that much. Their value lies in my enjoyment, but I don't delude myself to think they're valuable to anyone else. Of course, as they say, their value is what someone else will pay for it. So, maybe I'm wrong! :)

Post# 420599 , Reply# 5 2/25/2020 at 17:22 (1,521 days old) by vacuser (milford,ohio)
Checkrate/Likes *kirby vent* thanks for all the replies ! most folks think like me.good goes out,good comes back.

Post# 420606 , Reply# 6 2/25/2020 at 18:49 (1,521 days old) by texaskirbyguy (Plano, TX)
Checkrate/Likes Yep, what comes around goes around. You are not alone in your thinking. BTW, those are some good looking clean machines!

Post# 420608 , Reply# 7 2/25/2020 at 19:36 (1,521 days old) by superocd (PNW US)
Checkrate/Likes 1 *My 1965 Kirby D50 is my pride and joy...* It's basically like a brand-new Kirby D50 with a nice gleam to the mirrorlike polish, new bearings, motor brushes, brushroll, cord, Amodel fan and aftermarket tan bag (since tan OEM D50 bags are hard to come by). It sits proudly in my foyer for all to see. I recently converted it to take HEPA bags by having a zipper put on the back of the bag in addition to sticking a NOS Kirby Legend II mini-emptor with a fill tube and bag adaptor onto the machine, merging 20th century technology with the 21st century. It performs very well. Anyway, my wife and I had a couple of her friends and their husbands/fiancees over for a dinner at our house. They were surprised to see that I had such an old vacuum sitting in our foyer. They were going on about how Dyson was the bee's knees and couldn't believe that such an old vacuum could outclean a Dyson or why I'd have something as old as our parents hanging around. After dinner I actually took out my wife's Animal 2 and brought my D50 into the den and did a quick demo by sprinkling some coffee grounds onto the white carpet. While the Dyson performed well, the 55-year-old Kirby performed just as good, maybe even better. They saw that and I also explained that, unlike any Kirby, there will be very few (if any) Dysons that would make it this long due to the plastic construction, lack of repair parts after so many years and a motor that will not last as long or hold up to abuse as long as a Kirby. I explained that the performance of bagless machines degrade over time due to the filters, which are expensive to replace, and virtually nobody ever bothers replacing them. I also told them how easily a Kirby could be rebuilt by anyone with average mechanical aptitude (though I might be overestimating its simplicity as I tear into all sorts of things as an HVACR tech). It was kind of like a Kirby sales demo in my own home, though I wasn't actually selling a Kirby, lol. My point is that the average person doesn't think Kirby is anything special. In fact, they think it's old fashioned, outdated and can't keep up with something as "cool-looking", space-age and popular as a Dyson. I think my D50 (and other vintage direct-air vacs) would probably go into the trash heap if the average person got a hold of it because they don't know any better. Same with my other vintage collections (PCs, fans, countertop appliances). As for the price of repair parts, I've found that kirbyneeds on eBay seems to be reasonably priced for the most part. In my view, it's shipping that makes it a bit spendy, but that's because it costs good money now to ship anything these days. It's been a while, but I think it was kirbyneeds who combined a few things I've ordered in one sitting into one package to save on shipping costs for the both of us, which was nice.

Post# 420610 , Reply# 8 2/25/2020 at 20:27 (1,521 days old) by electrolux137 (Los Angeles)
Checkrate/Likes ~ ~ eBay auctions are won by the highest bidder (except for buy-it-now listings). So if something is driven up in price it's done so by the bidders, not the seller. If a seller has a high starting bid, s/he will realize it's too high when no one places bids. The world is not always fair. If it was, I'd be rich, handsome and sexy. I am none of the above.

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